City Matters: London schools are on the up – but we must raise standards even further August 11, 2013 THIS week, teenagers across the country will receive their A-level results, and embark on the next stage of their academic and professional lives. Young Londoners have more reason than most to look forward to this exciting period. Only a couple of decades ago, the capital’s schools were among the worst in the country. Since then, [...]
Population growth is irrelevant: Institutions and incentives matter August 11, 2013 THE UK now has one of the fastest-growing populations in Europe, according to a new report by the Office for National Statistics. In just one year, the population grew by over 400,000 people (to a total of 63.7m), adding the equivalent of a city the size of Bristol. A growing population means growing demand for [...]
Letters to the Editor – 12/08 – Brussels deal, Monetary Policy, Best of Twitter August 11, 2013 Brussels deal [Re: British business would thrive under a bespoke new deal with Brussels, Friday] The author believes it is possible to have “minimum regulation from Brussels, and maximum access to the Single Market”. It sounds too good to be true because it is. Of the three templates discussed, only Norway’s would give full access [...]
History repeats itself: Why the Bank’s interest rates pledge lacks credibility August 8, 2013 FROM 1992 until 2007, the UK had a monetary policy framework (a system for how interest rates were set and money printed) called “inflation targeting”. By 2007, the target was 2 per cent inflation, but inflation was allowed to deviate from this point target, for short periods, by up to 1 per cent provided it [...]
The Long View: Our very own Breaking Bad could be the wake-up call we desperately need August 8, 2013 BRITAIN needs better liars. Having lost our tolerance for taking reality straight up, we need a more palatable way to swallow hard truths. And for this, truth sugared by fiction looks like the best option we have left. In other words, Britain needs its own Breaking Bad, the greatest television drama since The Wire, which [...]
British business would thrive under a bespoke new deal with Brussels August 8, 2013 IN THE coming months, as the EU floats the possibility of fiscal, debt, and banking union as a solution to the Eurozone crisis, there is an opportunity for David Cameron to renegotiate a new deal that benefits our service and financial sectors. At Business for Britain, we have begun the process of consulting our supporters [...]
Letters to the editor – 09/08 – Forward guidance, Best of Twitter August 8, 2013 Forward guidance [Re: Why the governor’s monetary revolution will eventually backfire, yesterday] There is a serious flaw in the plan to use unemployment as a threshold for interest rate rises. The whole of the (first or second language) English- speaking working population of the EU can, through unrestricted EU migration, potentially qualify for inclusion in [...]
Mark Carney’s promise of prolonged low interest rates risks being broken August 7, 2013 THERE is a wind of change blowing through the Bank of England with new governor Mark Carney at the helm. Under his two predecessors – Eddie George and Mervyn King – the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was always very reluctant to make commitments about its future policy. The view was that the Committee would reassess [...]
A ban on zero hours contracts would be damaging to our economic recovery August 7, 2013 WE FEEL no need to excuse businesses that are doing all they can to create jobs. Those who have this week labelled zero hours contracts abusive have completely missed the point. In uncertain times, firms face tough decisions on the risks – on inventory, expansion, staff – they are willing to take. Employers will only [...]
Forward guidance falls short of a strictly rules-based monetary policy August 7, 2013 ALMOST everyone will be disappointed by governor Mark Carney’s announcement yesterday. Those hoping the Bank of England would announce more monetary easing will feel let down. And while those of us hoping for strictly rules-based policy do have something to be happy about, Carney needed to go much further. The Bank has now spelled out [...]